After sitting in the hot seat for one hour with Axios’ Alex Thompson, Hasan Piker told Status it was the “most contentious interview” he had ever participated in.
With more than 3 million followers on Twitch, one of the world’s largest streaming platforms, Piker broadcasts his political commentary daily, often with his fans in the comments serving as the primary source of live feedback.
In his interview with Thompson, the self-described democratic socialist had to repeatedly justify some of his most controversial comments.
“You have a huge and loyal following for hours every day. You also have a long record of saying things that would end most careers,” Thompson said. “Instead, you are as influential as ever. You say that people often misunderstand the context of your controversial comments, but where do you draw the line between provocative and reckless?”
Comments brought up by Thompson included when Piker said America deserved the 9/11 terrorist attack, calling for the death of Florida Rep. Rick Scott, or when he said landlords deserved to be murdered and let “the streets soak in their (expletive) red capitalist blood.”
He defended his past comments, including saying he hates the United States.
“If I truly hated this country, one, I’d probably be a Republican. Let’s be real, because I think they’re destroying this country, or I would just leave,” Piker said. “There’s a reason why I stayed here. There’s a reason why I keep advocating for the things that I’m advocating for, because I truly believe in the promise of America.”
Piker said critics and the media cycle often distort some comments, while others are meant to challenge people. He said these challenging statements are part of him conducting a thought experiment.
He cited what he called a “classic” of his: “Whiteness doesn’t exist,” or a more recent one comparing Israel to Hamas. “This is intentionally a provocative statement, but it’s also something that I personally believe as well,” he said.
Axios broke up the interview into four sections. Here are the highlights from each topic:
Piker’s efforts on the campaign trail
Piker has more recently left the comfort of his livestream to endorse political candidates across the country. Thompson mentioned Piker’s political influence and his relationship with democratic candidates, specifically Abdul El-Sayed, the democratic-socialist candidate in Michigan’s Senate race.
Piker said he believes El-Sayed’s recent distancing from him is political rather than sincere.
He added that El-Sayed is attempting to steer away from talking about him, “Because every moment that you’re talking about a Twitch streamer from California is a moment where you’re not talking about the cost of living crisis. A moment where you’re not talking about gas prices,” he said. “Republicans know that, and that’s precisely the reason why they keep needling on this issue to make it seem like I am a salient point that Michiganders care about.”
On a broader scale, Piker told Thompson his role in political campaigns is to mobilize young voters, specifically college-aged males.
When asked about his preference for a 2028 presidential candidate, he spoke highly of New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and said he would “absolutely” support her campaign if she did run.
The controversial 9/11 comment and the Middle East
During one of his livestreams in 2019, Piker said: “Americans deserved 9/11.”
He acknowledged to Thompson that he said it, but added that he apologized for it a day later.
“I don’t think it was appropriate because of obviously the heinous crime that had taken place. Three thousand Americans died. I don’t think that’s acceptable in any way, shape or form. I’m not pro-terrorism, and that’s precisely the reason why I apologized,” he said.
But he qualified the apology by adding that decades of American intervention in the Middle East helped produce “blowback,” including the emergence of al-Qaida.
Thompson then asked Piker what the difference is between “deserved” and “blowback.”
“Blowback is not a justification. Blowback is just what it is. A justification offers either a moral condemnation or a moral acceptance of the act. I do not accept the act of 9/11 morally; I believe that it was a horrifying tragedy,” he said.
Asked about his previous statement that America is the “top dog in terrorism,” he stood by it. When questioned further on whether or not that means America is worse than al-Qaida, he answered:
“Pound for pound, as far as the number of deaths, yes.”
On the ongoing Israel and Hamas conflict, Piker said that though he doesn’t defend Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7, 2023, he believes “that if they were under brutal subjugation for 75 years ... they probably would also react in a very violent way.”
He also doesn’t believe that Israel “in its current formation” should be an ally to the U.S. and that “the Middle East would be more stable” if Iran had a nuclear weapon.
“Do I want Iran to have nuclear arms? No, but I also don’t want America or Russia or China to have nuclear arms either.”
Charlie Kirk and political violence
Last month, videos of Piker singing “We are Charlie Kirk” to a crowd of his fans went viral during his stop in San Francisco for his Fear & Live Tour, despite Piker initially telling his followers not to joke about Kirk’s death when it happened just over a year ago.
When asked why he did it, Piker said he wasn’t mocking the assassination, but the “hagiography” and “forced reverence” surrounding Kirk after his death.
He told Thompson that he was not one of those people who was happy about Kirk’s death, though Thompson responded that “when you sing the song to your audience, you know that some of those people are those people that are elated that he’s dead.”
Piker said he was “mocking Charlie Kirk’s positions, and also on top of that, I’m mocking the forced reverence that took place. I’m not mocking Charlie Kirk’s assassination. I’m not justifying Charlie Kirk’s assassination. I think that is unjustifiable. My position on that is very clear,” and added that he didn’t think his actions were making light of Kirk’s death.
When asked if he thought political violence was ever justifiable, he said “no” — with a caveat that perhaps armed resistance by occupied populations should be treated differently.
Thompson also pressed Piker on calling Israel a “Nazi country” and Zionists equivalent to “rabid neo-Nazis,” and asked, “You aren’t worried that maybe one of your listeners would hear you saying every Zionist is a neo-Nazi, and discriminate against Zionists, maybe even be violent against Zionists?”
Piker said, “No, I’m not.”
Comparing America to China
Asked whether a child born today has better prospects in China or America, Piker said he worries “a Chinese child might have better conditions in the next decade or next two decades than an American one, and I think that should worry every American citizen.”
He added that Americans should be concerned that parts of China may be developing fast or offering better economic prospects than parts of the U.S., but “because of our corporate elites and their endless appetite for profit maxing, we are incapable of rebuilding this country and mak(ing) it the prosperous nation that I know it could be.”
Thompson pushed back on his apparent double standard. “It just seems there’s like a different level of outrage when it comes to Israeli violence versus Chinese violence,” he said regarding Piker’s comments.
“I wouldn’t be asking you if you hadn’t gone to China and posted about it, and you said it was a model for America,” Thompson explained.
Piker acknowledged the serious abuses in China’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims only after Thompson brought up reported “mass internment and torture” of Muslims in Xinjiang.
But he also called Chinese communist revolutionary Mao Zedong a “great man of history” and did things that were “unbelievably impressive.”
Nevertheless, he willingly praised China and spoke positively about parts of its governing and economic model. Whereas his treatment of Israel appears to be far more categorical and he uses much harsher language about Zionism.
“There are different terms applied for different actions,” he said.